Is Bharti Airtel's 'open network' too open for its own good?

In June this year, Airtel, India’s largest telecom provider, declared itself ‘The Open Network’. Depending on who you talk to, this was either a leader acknowledging its failings and showing an eagerness to correct them, or a colossal misstepRavi Balakrishnan | ETBrandEquity | November 23, 2016, 13:39 IST

NEW DELHI: In June this year, Airtel, India’s largest telecom provider, declared itself ‘The Open Network’. Depending on who you talk to, this was either a leader acknowledging its failings and showing an eagerness to correct them, or a colossal misstep, the brand waving a red flag at the perennially wrathful herd of mobile subscribers.

What being an Open Network meant was giving subscribers a deeper insight into Airtel’s workings: allowing them to see not just where the network was doing well but why it was not up to scratch, near their home, college, workplace or commute. It invited average Joe subscribers to get in touch and work to improve the service. In ads written with a candour that’s rare in the typically hyperbolic and self-congratulatory space of advertising, the copy on one ad read “While we are brutally honest about admitting we are not the best yet, we’re also fiercely passionate about getting there.” “Tell us where we are going wrong and partner us to make it right,” said another.

The films featured irate consumers venting about Airtel, before being mollified by seeing the entire expanse of Airtel’s network in its war room, shot on location at Manesar. And yes, in case you were wondering, they were real consumers according to Rajiv Mathrani, chief brand officer at Airtel: “There was no scripted testimonial which is typically what a brand would do. All we did was get the right set of customers, to showcase different parts of India and the problems they had. I don’t think you will see them in multiple commercials.” Phase 2 of the campaign in September showed complaints being responded to, cell towers installed and happily-ever-after conclusions to at least a few network and buffering problems.

It’s a project that Airtel and its agency Taproot Dentsu regard as way more than a simple ad campaign (even if there are several people who beg to differ, but we’ll get to them in a bit); one that began nine months before the communication rolled out. According to Harmeen Mehta, global chief information officer, Airtel, “We took being transparent as a pledge. The best intel we get on how we are doing is from consumers. We decided it’s not enough to listen to them more: it’s about listening to them all the time.”

It was not a decision that was taken lightly. Angello Dias, co-founder Taproot Dentsu fully expected the campaign, one that by its very nature, highlighted the warts in Airtel’s offering, to be the place where a marketer could conceivably draw the line. He recalls, “There were endemic problems that were not going away like call drops. But the category was in denial in communication terms, creating ads that did not address these issues.” And so, the decision as the leader, to take these head on.

Instead of going the typical consumer delight route, the fulcrum for Open Network was engineering. The team created a site that would layer different technologies, to display towers across the country and give an update on signal strength, accessible to subscribers online and via mobile. The backend, Mehta points out, was the same Airtel used internally for planning, optimisation, and quality management.

And according to Airtel, the results have been very encouraging. Call centre employees instantly know if it’s the network at fault or the consumer’ phone settings that need tweaking. Mehta says, “Our executives believe they’ve become intelligent advisors. Over 70% of issues get addressed in one single call.” Airtel puts a timeline for the resolution of the 30% which may involve a visit by a network engineer and seeking the consumer’s feedback and help on placing a site or tower. It involved increasing the number of on-field engineers by a thousand. So far, over six million unique visitors have hit the website, over 30,000 cellphone sites have been optimised and over 9,000 towers upgraded, says Mathrani.

Ever since it launched though, the campaign has its share of sceptics and who can blame them? Strangers have bonded, friendships been forged and who knows, people have probably got hitched, over their “my terrible network” stories. Dias claims he deals with sceptics these days by directing them to the Open Network site, so they can see for themselves, the satisfied testimonials and accounts from happy customers.

But there are others who wonder whether the strategy is right. For instance ex adman Tarun Chauhan, founder of TSC Consulting, “I think it was something they did to respond to Jio. It’s a typical my shirt is cleaner than yours FMCG battle.” A strategic misstep says Chauhan, who has worked on telecom through stints at Lowe Lintas and JWT: “The entire game is creating perceived value. Rational value is very difficult to justify in this segment. All it takes is meeting one person who says ‘it doesn’t work’.”

It’s the reason operators across the world appeal to the heart and not the head. Besides, Chauhan argues, in a category that’s so inherently complicated, access to information is unlikely to help: “I don’t care if I have a cell tower on my head or my ass as long as it works. If you say I have eight cell towers, I’ll say that’s good because I don’t know any better. If you say I’ve got 12, I’ll say the same thing.” He believes a brand as big and synonymous with the category as Airtel should not have to justify its existence via such a campaign.

Marketing consultant Harish Bijoor sees in the campaign the stance a leader ought to take: “Airtel has changed the strategic direction from you versus me to let us solve this together.” He however feels it has a limited lifespan. “Having said it once, the efficacy of the statement ceases and the novelty is gone.” It’s a problem similar to old Avis line about being number two and trying harder. Being open and giving a ringside view to a struggle is great at one level, but at another, it leaves people with the impression you are always struggling.

Before closing this story, I trawled through the Facebook pages of all the major telecom operators. Right below the latest campaigns and promotions, were the perennial litany of complaints of network indifference and malfeasance. A torrent of unadulterated, frequently hilarious rage, that poured forth, impervious to attempts made by social media teams to soothe frayed tempers. And apparently indifferent to whether a network was or wasn’t open.

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